1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel with a longer expected life and increased discharge by optimizing the growth direction of crystals of a protecting layer.
2. Discussion of the Background
Plasma display panels (PDPs), which display images by gas discharge, can be easily produced and produce high quality display characteristics, including for example display capacity, luminance, contrast, after-image, and viewing angle. In a PDP, a direct current or an alternating current is applied to electrodes to generate a discharge in a discharge cell filled with a discharge gas, thus emitting ultraviolet rays. The emitted ultraviolet rays excite a fluorescent material to emit visible rays, thereby forming an image.
PDPs can be expensive to purchase by a consumer, and must be constantly stabilized for extended use because they are mainly used in home TV receivers or as display devices for industrial use. However, since a PDP forms an image by successive and frequent discharge in the discharge cells of unit pixels, PDP components located in the discharge cells are protected from collision with charged particles accelerated from discharge. Forming a protecting layer inside the discharge cells provides such protection.
However, in time, even the protecting layer can be damaged by repeated collisions with the accelerated charged particles. The degree of damage to the protecting layer determines the expected life of the PDP. Accordingly, to increase the expected life of the PDP, the protecting layer may include a crystal structure with high sputtering resistance. High sputtering resistance indicates that the crystal structure can withstand repeated collisions with accelerated charged particles.
Thus, the protecting layer protects components of a PDP, and also supplements discharge by emitting secondary electrons in response to collision with the accelerated charged particles. Because these functions improve discharge characteristics of a PDP, a protecting layer that can withstand collisions with the charged particles and can emit secondary electrons to supplement discharge would be desired in a PDP.